PREFACE

Teaching college finance for decades made me see firsthand how most of our students face math difficulties and how they view their lack of fluency in the quantitative analysis as a big obstacle in their learning journey. Their common struggle often manifests itself as a hindering factor in their academic progress, and a gap that may become more difficult to fill later as they advance in their professional careers. My students have often expressed their discouragement and frustration at standard mathematical textbooks, which usually focus on technical math and treat finance and financial subjects on the side. I wanted this book to reverse that approach and place the focus on finance and financial problems—but in their computational sense and mathematical language. In other words, I wanted to redirect the emphasis toward problem solving of major financial issues, using mathematical methods as tools. I am hoping that in doing so, I will satisfy one of our students’ major learning needs, help facilitate their academic march to higher levels, and equip them with the fundamental skills that will continue to be helpful beyond graduation. The book is written as a direct reflection of a long classroom experience in which the accumulation of knowledge of the material has been enhanced by the diversity of students’ learning styles and their various educational requirements. Specifically and deliberately, my primary attention has been directed to the role of mathematical formulas ...

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